The next steps will be to determine if the bone markers are useful in predicting fracture risk in older men, she added, whether they can predict other types of fracture, and whether they are useful for monitoring people who are stopping their osteoporosis therapy for a drug holiday.

“Those are all very important questions that I think need to be addressed,” she says. “For the time being it doesn’t look like there are clear indications of roles for turnover markers in those settings, but we need to do some methodologically good research to really get solid answers about that.”

The Rheumatologist newsmagazine reports on issues and trends in the management and treatment of rheumatic diseases. The Rheumatologist reaches 11,500 rheumatologists, internists, orthopedic surgeons, nurse practitioners, physician assistants, nurses, and other healthcare professionals who practice, research, or teach in the field of rheumatology.